Bitcoin Breaks Through $10,000 for First Time in History

The price of a single Bitcoin broke through the major $10,000 milestone on Wednesday to reach an all-time high of more than $10,900. The new record level followed a powerful run of gains over the past two days that effortlessly pushed the digital currency through the $9,000 level from a little over $8,000.

The value of Bitcoin has gained over 900% this year alone after ending 2016 at a little under $1,000. The massive gain grabbed the attention of investors who are willing to accept the risk associated with Bitcoin’s infamous volatility. These investors chose to ignore skepticism from financial experts towards the digital currency, including J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who called Bitcoin a fraud.

However, Dimon’s view was not shared by some other major names in the financial field. Chicago Mercantile Exchange recently announced plans to offer Bitcoin futures to join a growing list of financial firms that support the virtual currency.

The price surge over the past days did not follow any major news that is relevant to Bitcoin, but rather appears to have stemmed from rapidly growing interest in the digital asset. Investors poured their funds into Bitcoin for fear of missing out on further gains, which reflected as an increase of about 300,000 users on Coinbase, the largest US-based Bitcoin exchange. Coinbase now has more than 13.3 million users.

The growing interest also was reflected in the number of searches that are related to Bitcoin on Google, which increased almost sixfold since the beginning of 2017. These factors may continue to push the price of Bitcoin higher in 2018 to as high as $40,000, according to hedge fund billionaire Michael Novogratz.

If Bitcoin maintained its course for the remainder of 2017, experts expect major institutional investors to act on their interests in the virtual currency in 2018. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein pointed out last month that skepticism did not stop paper money from replacing gold, and it may not stop Bitcoin either.

It remains to be seen whether the digital currency’s gains this year will unravel as a valuation bubble. Unlike stocks, the value of Bitcoin is not linked to earnings and does not represent a certain firm or government. This has led investors to doubt the digital assets every now and then, causing massive drops on Bitcoin’s way up this year, with plunges of as much as 30% as recent as this month.

BTC/USD traded at 10,920.3 on the Bitstamp exchange as of 13:25 GMT on Wednesday after touching 10.951.8 at 13:10 GMT, the pair’s highest level in history. BTC/USD began trading today at 9,880.0

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